Twitter can be a toxic place, and this study proves it. But before even reading that, I’m sure you already knew that. I realized this eventually too after being on the social media site for a few years.
When I first created an account on Twitter, I used it for the bare minimum. I would write short updates about my life like what I was having for dinner or what happened at school that day. With 140 characters, there’s only so much you can say to a few hundred of your followers. Also, I was in high school so access to social media was more controlled.
As I got older, I turned to Twitter when I was feeling down to express my feelings. It felt good to type out a tweet, send it out, and have it be completely vague that people would understand. It was a way for me to unload my emotions without really having to talk to anyone. Personally, this wasn’t good for me, mainly because it allowed me to wallow in the bad times and stay sad.
Aside from my personal use of Twitter, I also noticed that everyone else started to get toxic too. A lot of the people I followed would be passive aggressive and subtweet others. I’m sure you know what subtweeting is—when you type up a complaint or vent out about someone but not tagging them in it so they don’t see but secretly hope they do. Pretty nasty right? And, yes, I would do this a lot too. Especially when i would get into fights with my ex-boyfriend.
Overall, Twitter just let everyone be petty.
I got even worse with people using it to cyberbully and let loose their discrimination. I feel like trolls are born on Twitter.
Like I’ve said in past articles, I’m always one to take a break from social media. When I still had Twitter, I would always deactivate my account for a short period of time. Twitter has this option that if you don’t sign back in within 30 days, it would delete your account. Eventually, that’s what I did. I hit deactivate and never came back.
Since then, I’ve been more positive and I’m definitely less petty. Twitter, on the other hand, hasn’t changed for the better. In fact, it has probably gotten worse. The Twitterverse and its toxic culture is something I no longer have in my life and I’m happier for it.
Art by Marian Hukom
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